Bent Rear Caliper Pins..?

About a month and a half ago I did a complete refresh of my rear brakes. New TRW calipers, new pads new rotors. I bought new e brake cables but didn't install them because my e-brake works fine and the tab is all the way against the stop.


After installation I went for a drive with my infrared thermometer and on my passenger side rear rotor I was getting 400 degrees. Took that side back apart fiddled with it, went for a drive and now I'm at 150. Certainly better but obviously not exactly right.


I left it alone for a month and a half but I can tell that I've got a slight brake drag issue. So yesterday I took it apart checked everything put it back together and I'm back to 350 degrees.



Well this morning I pulled that side apart again. Checked double checked, bled the brake on that side. Still sticking, when I put the caliper in place and tighten down the bolts I can not move the hub with my hands.



About that time I noticed that the caliper seems to bind when I put the caliper bolts in making it set slightly askew, so I go to my parts drawer and fish out two caliper pins, clean and lube them and put everything back together and its perfect. I can easily spin the hub with my hand.


I drive to work and the temp on the drivers side is 100, passenger side 110. So it appears the caliper pin (s) were bent.


I searched a lot of threads on rear brake issues, I've read a lot of frustration as guys replace calipers, rotors, e-brakes add a helper spring etc., and still have a sticking rear brake, but I've read nothing about a bent caliper pin.



Has anyone else run into this?

I cannot say I have ever seen one bent, but have seen some that had gone so long with out proper lubrication they beat themselves and the bores in the carriage up so bad the caliper could rock back and forth. I also see a lot of pads get in a bind due to rust build up UNDER the pad mount shims, which causes them to get pinched and not work properly.

Some pad kits come with new shims, some you have to get separately, but I always replace them and clean up the carriage mounts.

I was hoping you'd chime in. The reason that I did a refresh of the rear brakes to start with was that the passenger side was eating the rotor up. The pads weren't bad but the rotor was getting bad. The brakes on that side had been dragging for some time. So with the new calipers, pads & rotors I thought my problems would be over.


Honestly looking at those pins I can not tell they are bad, but swapping them out seems to have made the difference, so that's why I thought there must be a bend of some slight degree in at least one of them.

So tonight I’ve looked a little closer at those pins. I placed them on a flat piece of metal and rolled them. One rolls fine the other is definitely bent, and I think I know why.

As everyone knows the lower slide pins tend to seize in the bore. Up here in the salt belt that tendency is exacerbated. I remember using a big screwdriver and hammering that pin out of the bore, cleaning it all up along with the bore, lubing it and putting it back on.

I believe I bent the head of the pin by hammering it, causing it not to seat correctly which allowed the caliper to be twisted and hold the pads against the rotor.

Bottom line if you have to hammer on a caliper pin your best choice is to replace it.

Tdijarhead said:

............................ those pins. I placed them on a flat piece of metal and rolled them. One rolls fine the other is definitely bent,.............................

Click to expand...

So I've read, this is best practice.